Any tips for me before I go to TSC and buy some supplies? This is an ag school, I'm sure someone has installed one before.

This is a single hotwire I'm planning on putting about 2" out from and maybe 1" above the last horizontal board on a wooden fence to keep the cat from jumping out. She's lazy and I know she won't clear the fence without putting a paw on it so this should keep her in. Might have to bury welded wire at the bottom to keep her from digging out too.

8/27/2009 4:41:23 PM

Totally not as cool as I thought it'd be. My mistake.

8/27/2009 4:43:01 PM

Feline containment is fairly boring. It's chasing the damn thing down after escapes that's exciting.

Waiting for TSC to email me the $5 off $25 coupon I signed up for.

8/27/2009 4:46:40 PM

It's just that you see "electric fencing," your mind goes one way, and you enter the thread with hope for people dueling with electrified rapiers.

8/27/2009 4:49:54 PM

We have one on our dog pen to keep them from trying to dig out from under it. it's intermittent, and really low-voltage. I grabbed it myself before putting my dog in there. Zapped him 1 time and he never got near the fence again. We don't even have it turned on anymore.

8/27/2009 4:51:48 PM

Haha, nope. Just one soon to be pissed off cat that can't go wandering.

8/27/2009 4:52:08 PM

^^ What brand? I'm probably going to get the cheap TSC brand one in the smallest size available, unless they are prone to failure (not that the cat should try more than once or twice).

Doubt I'll put a ground wire, unless the top one scares the cat enough she'll never touch it. Putting it low enough to keep the cat in would guarantee constant shorting on weeds.

[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 4:55 PM. Reason : ...]

8/27/2009 4:54:41 PM

It was pretty expensive. My GF's dad has a cattle farm and he bought it for her when she bought her house, and he never buys cheap shit. Not sure of the brand though. It's solar powered

[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 5:42 PM. Reason : a]

8/27/2009 5:42:17 PM

I got the cheap one at TSC, I think its only 2,000V I put it up around a ~20x20 vegatable garden to keep the deer out. The dog got it once and yelped. Mines a 4 strand with fiberglass poles. Its not waterproof so I built an enclosure for it from some scrap wood.

Your idea seems spot of for keeping the cat in. I'd imagine the cheap one would work fine for that. (housecat, right) You already have the wooden fence, so all you'd need is some insulators to attach the wire to the fence. Hooking everything up is easy, only pain in the ass is to drive the grounding rods into the ground. I managed to get one halfway into the ground and it works good enough for what I needed.

Instead of burying welded wire at the bottom, you could just run another hot strand. ^^Roundup will kill those weeds.

8/27/2009 6:06:07 PM

Don't piss on it when it's hot.

8/27/2009 7:00:09 PM

Also, if you get one that is anything like mine, you have to keep it clean of leaves and grass clippings or it breaks the circuit. It's a pain in the ass in the fall, and every time i mow the lawn.

8/27/2009 7:02:30 PM

That's why it's only going on the top and a couple inches away from the fence. Leave should fall through and no weeds are going to get that high. The cat is skinny and agile, I have no doubt she could get under anything that was high enough to not be constantly shorting on leaves/weeds/whatever. If she gets scared of it then I might be lazy and staple some non-hot wire around the bottom of the fence where she can see it.

8/27/2009 7:14:39 PM

Quote :

"Don't piss on it when it's hot."

nothing happens

8/27/2009 8:54:15 PM

My dad and I installed about 30 miles of electric fence on our cattle farm back home, so I understand it fairly well.

unless the cat manages to touch the hot wire and something to ground it at the same time, nothing will happen. the wood will act as an insulator and won't count as a grounding point. running a hot wire and a ground wire about two inches apart would ensure that she got shocked.

With an animal as small as a cat, I'd be afraid that the current across it's body might be enough to fibrillate the cat's heart. Maybe they make a smaller box than the ones we've bought, but they're usually designed for an animal such as a cow or horse that has a much larger cross-sectional area.

8/27/2009 9:18:49 PM

^ i dunno what you are talking about

its simple...from the box run a metal rod into the ground near the box...take a wire and run from the box to the metal rod, that your ground

the other wire is the one you put around the fence...make sure its got those little spacers/insulators like to keep it off the wood and youre fine...just make sure it makes a continuous loop back to where the box is and it will work like a champ.



[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 9:49 PM. Reason : h]

8/27/2009 9:48:39 PM

He's saying a horse/cow/human is touching or standing on earth-ground and is completing the circuit when they touch the hot wire, thereby getting a shock. If the cat is jumping onto it to leap off the other side or even touching the wooden fence during the cat's leap/climb that the wood has such a high resistance it may not even ground out and won't shock the cat. It's the same principle as birds sitting on those high voltage wires and nothing happening.

[Edited on August 27, 2009 at 11:14 PM. Reason : .]

8/27/2009 11:13:37 PM

the key to an electric fence is grounding it well. We use a 6 joule low impedance fencer for keeping our cows in and it's probably overkill, but it's popped me a time or two and it hurts like hell. they sell pet strength fencers that are not very expensive and will be fine for a cat and they are not expensive. use a good ground rod for the ground terminal on the fencer with a metal rod or something equivalent, and the cat will be the ground for the hot wire. if you buy an old style weed chopper, just keep in mind that they can set dry grass, etc... on fire.

8/27/2009 11:19:03 PM

This cat specific unit uses a grounding rod, so it should work. She might not get a full shock on the wood fence, but she'll feel something. I'm also planning on placing the wire so that it's a physical barrier to fence climbing.
http://www.smartcatsstayhome.com/installation.html

I'm going to get the smallest unit TSC sells, which is suggested for small animals and pets:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/fencing/electric-fencing/electric-fencers/zareba-2-mile-ac-fencer-3680003
I'll check the specs before I buy it since they aren't online and compare it to other pet specific ones. Shouldn't be a problem, and most current travels along the skin so it takes a hell of a lot to cause fibrillation without careful placement and electrode gel.

There's a storage area in the back of the house so I can put the charger inside that and use insulated wire for when it's next to the house.

8/27/2009 11:31:37 PM

just make sure you grab ahold of the wire to make sure it's working. a guy who used to farm for my grandfather swore it cured his arthritis.

8/27/2009 11:36:06 PM

I've already been shocked by horse fencing several times. Itteh Bitteh Kitteh Zapper can't be that bad.

8/27/2009 11:51:14 PM

Quote :

"^ i dunno what you are talking about "

a cat won't be simultaneously in contact with the ground and the top of a fence. think before you speak.

Quote :

"She might not get a full shock on the wood fence, but she'll feel something"

trust me, she won't. Wood is a really good insulator. I use wooden stakes and scrap lumber to push down our electric fence wires and climb over energized fences all the time without feeling a thing.

On our fences back home, we alternate each wire between hot and ground. We drive ground rods occasionally, but our fences rely mainly on a cow making contact with two wires at once. If you run a hot wire with a ground wire 2 inches below it along the top of your fence, then you're guaranteed to pop the cat good.

Have you considered what's going to happen when your cat actually gets out and gets popped? It's not going to figure out what an electric fence is until it actually gets shocked one good time. If it's already on top of the fence when it gets shocked, it's very likely that the cat will hop off of the fence onto the other side and never come back. We always place our baby calfs in an interior pasture so that when they run full speed into an electric fence the first time and go through it while getting shocked, they still have another fence to prevent them from leaving the farm and being scared to death of ever coming near a fence again.

8/28/2009 12:10:39 AM

^speaks the truth.

Don't know why I didn't think of that in my post, but my application was keeping deer out. (i.e. they learned the fence would shock'em, and they moved on to easier pickings, ie, my neighbors garden probably)


You're going to need to run two wires so that cat will touch them both. Or, set it up so when the cat is touching the wire, it still has a foot on the ground.

If you grab the wire, use the top of your hand, not the palm If nothing happens, its probably because of your shoes acting as an insulator.

8/28/2009 3:45:08 PM

Wires will be placed so that the cat will hit them on the way up to clear the fence and they will be a physical barrier to escaping as well, as I already said. Jump, zap, fall since they'll prevent her from hanging onto the top of the fence.

8/28/2009 5:53:18 PM

the boxes only emit a shock for a fraction of a second and then are off for the next two seconds before discharging again. If the cat manages to jump up and grab the wire when it's not electrified, it could possibly climb over without getting shocked. Keep that in mind when you build your fence.

8/28/2009 8:31:28 PM